: to drive away by or as if by scattering: to cause to spread out to the point of vanishing: dissolve

How do you use it?

The baseball star called a news conference to dispel the rumor that he wanted to be traded to another team.

Are you a word wiz?

What do you think the root word of "dispel" means?

A. to open

B. to beat

C. to jump

D. to attach

"Dispel" comes from adding the prefix "dis-" to the Latin verb "pellere," which means "to beat" or "to drive." Other prefixes added to this root give us the words "compel" (to force), "expel" (to force out), "repel" (to drive back), and "impel" (to urge or drive forward). The name for the rhythmical beating or throbbing of arteries in the heart called the "pulse," and the verb "push," meaning "to press against with force in order to drive," both also have their origins in "pellere."